Gwardia Opole

Gwardia Opole is a men's handball club from Opole, Poland, that plays in the Superliga.

The current name of the club is Corotop Gwardia Opole due to sponsorship reasons.

The team was founded in 1945. In 1962, it was promoted to the first league. In his debut season in the top league, he took 4th place. In the 1963/1964 season, the team led by Edward Hyla won the bronze medal of the Polish championship (behind AZS Katowice and Sparta Katowice). In the following years, Gwardia continued to play in the first league. They were relegated in 1980, but returned to the 1st after a year when they won the 2nd league by eight points ahead of second-placed Posnania Poznań. In the 1981/1982 season, it was relegated to the second league again, where it spent the next ten years. The Opole team returned to the first league in the 1992/1993 season - again only for one year - when coached by Henryk Zajączkowski. The club was in the third division in the 1997/1998 season, where it played for three consecutive years. In the 2002/2003 season, the Opole team won the second division and returned to the top division after 10 years. In the 2003/2004 season, the team won only two and drew three, thus relegating it to the first league. In the years 2004-2013, Gwardia played in the first league. In this period, he achieved second place twice (2006/2007, 2010/2011) and third place twice (2007/2008, 2011/2012). In the 2012/2013 season, when Marek Jagielski was the coach, the team won the first division and got promoted to the Superliga. In the 2013/2014 season, the team won five, drew one and lost 16, finishing 11th and relegated to the First Division. During the season, in December 2013, there was a change of coach: Marek Jagielski was replaced by Tadeusz Jednoróg.^[1] In 2014, Rafał Kuptel became the new coach of Opole. In the 2014/2015 season, Gwardia dominated the second division: they won all 26 of their matches, thus once again promoted to the Superliga. The team's new home, the "Okraglak" hall, was handed over in September 2017, and since 2018 the facility has been called the Stegu Arena.^[2] In the 2017/2018 season, the team debuted on the international cup circuit, when they were eliminated in the third round against RD Koper of Slovenia in the EHF Cup. In the 2018/2019 season, Opole finished the regular season in 4th place. In the semifinals of the playoffs, they lost to the favorite Vive Kielce (32:31; 28:37). However, a one-goal victory (32:31)^[3] in the first meeting was a sensation: Gwardia's victory ended Kielce's 103-match winning streak since March 2016.^[4] In the race for 3rd place, Gwardia faced MMTS Kwidzyn. He lost the first match 25:26, but won the rematch 26:24 and won the bronze medal of the Polish championship. The team's top scorers in the 2018/2019 season: Patryk Mauer (149 goals), Mateusz Jankowski (120 goals) and Antoni Łangowski (116 goals). For the third time in a row, Adam Malcher received the award for the best goalkeeper in the league, and for the second time in a row, Rafał Kuptel was recognized as the best coach in the Superliga.

• Arena: - Stegu Arena
• City: - Opole
• Capacity: - 3378
• Address: - Oleska 72, 45-222 Opole, Poland.

Squad for the 2024–25 season^[5]

• Head coach: Bartosz Jurecki
• Assistant coach: Bogumił Baran
• Fitness coach: Marek Dominiak
• Physiotherapist: Kacper Abrahamek
• Physiotherapist: Bartosz Smarzych

Transfers for the 2025–26 season

• Polish Superliga:
  •  Bronze (2): 1964, 2019

• Polish Cup:
  •  Bronze (3): 2017, 2018, 2019

As of 13/1/2025^[7]

The list includes players who have played at least once for their national team or spent at least 10 years with the team.

• Official website
• Gwardia Opole on Facebook
• Gwardia Opole on Instagram
• Gwardia Opole at Handball Base